Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-04-05

ALONG HE LINZ.
Before coming. however, 10 the Incidents OF my
trip, II is necessary TO stop for moment to coa-
slider the changes effected ia the genera. military
attitude OF France and Germany towards each
other by the alteration OF the frontier line In 49,
Before the war Of 1870 The Frelch frontier WAS
one intended for purposes of attack The fortresses
themselves, except Metz and >trasburg, were an-
tiquated In their CONSTRUCTION ana lnsuIhtieBtly
provided with both guns and gdrrisonS. Mr;Zwas
10 be the great railyiBg pea; Tor the army on it,
way q Berlin, and Strasburg was 10 b. It's nexi
step. On the outbreak OF hoSriiticS. thousands OF
mans OF Western Germany were dist rfba cd Ia M
French troops, While one OF their Officers has
stated that they found II Impossible 10 secure a
satisfactory map OF Eastern France, the t,ersan
frontier at that time was correspondingly oae OF
defense but all this Is changed haw. The new
German frontier is rendered - strong b' the Dos
TEN OF railway communication 10 the sn.sl and
Specifically ioisaseabie &aond line OF deien a-the
iEapTegnzt khine fort lessesthat ali idea 81 in
reared from the views OF he FrenrH MILITARY an
iheFittes. II is GERMANY, they ARE all no~i-
equally well that The German army Viii
make the first move. F1 every reasaa thrrr-
fore, the French taciirs must neceSsarj. In those
OF defense. Accordingly, since Ih.i. enormous
SUMS OF haeHey have been spent in providing
eastern France with new ARTIFICIAL Frontier In
place OF the natural aDs sise has lost and la Tn
words OF recent writer, probably ~ vast a
scheme OF military engineering MAS Bc,cr Iciare
planned and ckecWsd III - bsic! times The
ursI line OF the ney frontier rDnsisls oi The four
fOrresSes, or r1Ihay LDitBed camps-fr lie fort
resses ia themselves are practically obsolete
u, 20 begin on the D0ffb, scrduR. Tout Epinal
BeifOrt; behind these. a second line. are LaoD
Reims yitry, Lancrcs D|On, Besancon: ana
as Kind OF third line, stands Paris now one OF
the tmpfegnable places OF Europe as IL has been
20 completely encirced by outlying f0ris an SUCH
a long distance from the city and suci a short
distance from each other, as to render even a
siege OF it impossible TO any army eAcept one OF
ultra-coaosssl proportions Thus given tie attack
the part Of HerRa NJ and the ines I'll defense on
that OF France, the question is what course would
the advance OF the invaders naturally follow ?
Beginning at the south the violation Of Swiss ter
riiory is extremely improbable for many reasons
among them the iact that the brave Switzers M
able 70 iDObihze Immediately an as,onishingly
large and weli-tFalned army, every man q! whom
would be armed with the repeating rifle Belfort
and Epinal are connected by u series OF forts so
close together thai IL Is stated their ong-rance
tire frequently OTerlapS Between Epinal aud
TOul there Is gap, In the rear OF witch lies a
small town called Nenfchateau, to which re-
Gently no fewer than hye lines OF railway have
been Dslth fhAS ind1eatlngi point OF Intended
concentration foul AND yerdun are, again, con-
nected ~ q close Chain q forts. The SPACE bs-
tween Vefdun and the Belgian frontier Is ALSO
underlined. In war, even more than In other NJ
fairs. IL Il only the unexpected which happens
but e s6ens clear fp6p Tie (QyegO,ng facts thai
the advance VIII be made eithef between Epinal
and TOsl, or along the unfortined Franco belgian
fropiier by the violation OF Belgian Territory, 20
clear ~ IRas taat ere q the NEST recent u German